Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is an NRA member and the second-in-command in the state of Texas.

Larry Pittman is a “man of God” and also a member of NRA. He also happens to be a representative in the North Carolina General Assembly as is Rep. Mark Brody who happens to have an “A” endorsement fro the NRA.

All four of these gentlemen in the past few days have made rather interesting assertions about either the need for more guns in schools (arming teachers) or the need for teachers to be more submissive to a rather punitive job description of teachers that opposes collective bargaining.

In the aftermath of yet another school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas, Oliver North was quoted as saying that the problem is too many “drugged” students.

From CNN.com,

Incoming NRA President Oliver North said the cause of such attacks is youngsters who have been “drugged in many cases.”

This coming from the man who was found guilty of selling arms to militants in a country from whom we just pulled out of a nuclear arms agreement. That country, Iran, now says it will begin enriching uranium again.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick stated in a press conference after the Santa Fe shooting many things that he thought could curb violent attacks at schools.

Texas GOP Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said after the nation’s latest school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas, that teachers need guns, parents should secure firearms safely at home, and schools should eliminate some of their entrances.

Those two national figures seem to have pinpointed the phantom problems: Ritalin and too many doors. Blame the doctors, the architects, and the engineers. And don’t forget the teachers themselves.

Speaking of medicating for ADHD, take a look at Sir Ken Robinson’s TED Talk called “Changing Education Paradigms.” It’s simply fantastic. In it he talks about the rise of ADHD diagnoses and the rise of prescriptions for Ritalin.

If Ritalin really is the problem here as Oliver North would want to portray, then North Carolina might be absolutely one of the worst places to teach. In fact, if you are teacher in a NC public high school, you are already in an everlasting high-alert “tornado watch” for violence.

But according to some NC lawmakers, the problem actually is more focused on a certain subsection of the public school population.

This echoes Lt. Gov. Patrick’s call for arming teachers, but a fellow NC lawmaker said that teachers were “thugs” in a Facebook comment talking about the recent NC teacher protest on May 16th which brought thousands of people to the capital for a day of advocating for schools including safety.

Arming “thugs” in NC to protect schools with too many doors from people drugged up with Ritalin who may have fallen prey to the ideology of communist democrats in a state controlled by republicans.

Sounds about right.

If there ever was an argument to be made for raising teacher pay these four men just made it. It’s called hazard pay. But there is a premise that is incorrect here. If anything, the way that lawmakers have “assaulted” public schools, it seems to be that what teachers are really doing is trying to protect students and schools from the people trying to protect the gun-industry.

In all of their statements, these four white male, God-fearing lawmakers never talk about gun control measures, legislation that could save schools and students.

That irony is not lost on everybody.

Blaming the recent surge of school shootings on free-thought protected by the amendment that comes before the Second, prescribed medications, and architectural designs rather than lax gun laws can only point to one very important point – our lawmakers have a huge problem in actually confronting the truth if it does not have a large PAC associated with it.

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While evoking the paraphrased words of the NRA’s Wayne LaPierre, Rep. Larry Pittman once again is calling for more guns to be in our schools.

And this call had some extra extremism added to them.

From an email he sent to all NCGA members on April 16th:

“We need to allow teachers, other school personnel and other citizens, who are willing, to be screened and to receive tactical training and bring their weapons to school, in cooperation with local law enforcement who would need to be informed as to who is doing this. We should give them a fighting chance. Otherwise, when they die, and children die whom they could have defended, their blood will be on our hands. I cannot accept that. I hope you will think this through and find that you cannot accept it, either.”

“Blood on our hands.” That’s what he said.

“Blood on our hands.”

Ironic that a pastor/extreme guns’ rights activist asked for people to be screened but still be against gun control laws that call for “screening” of potential gun buyers.

Pittman goes further and says,

“What we must not do is to allow ourselves to be misguided by emotionalism to enact further gun control laws that violate the Second Amendment and the rights of honest citizens. Such new gun control laws will not solve the problem. They will only leave good people defenseless, when the best way to stop an evil person with a gun is a good person with a gun. We will help nothing by violating the rights of 18-20 year old citizens or discriminating against a certain set of long guns simply on the basis of their cosmetic appearance.”

The original picture was not correct in the first place. And Pittman is not correct in this instance either.

And that mention of “the best way to stop an evil person with a gun is a good person with a gun” is straight from the mouth of Wayne LaPierre who after the Sandy Hook Massacre quoted, “The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”

Pittman didn’t even give LaPierre credit for the use of a “zero-sum” fallacy. Besides, most teachers in this state who have been polled think that having a “good guy” with a gun is another way of endangering more people.

Let it not be lost that Pittman is an ordained Presbyterian minister. From the NRA to the pulpit to the General Assembly to the email inbox of many, what Pittman is doing is literally shilling more guns for the gun lobby.

It is hard to not look at Pittman as a “man of God” and not want to tell him that he already has “blood on his hands.”

It seems that many politicians like Pittman who claim to be hardline “pro-lifers” are helping to privatize the very institutions that are giving “life” to many individuals. As a representative, it would seem like Pittman would want to support more actions that would give life to so many.

We are in a state where almost 1 in 4 children live in poverty. What has Pittman as a lawmaker done for that? Created a surplus while cutting taxes for those the highest earners?

Did Pittman preserve life by voting to expand Medicaid to many in the state? No. He let our citizens continue to pay money to the federal government to help finance other states’ Medicaid program.

Did Pittman vote to punish those companies that hurt water supplies for those who have to use that water for living?

Lack of medical care, shelter, food, and basic resources kill people. That’s blood on someone’s hands. The Jesus that I think Pittman refers to would not like that.

I would have a hard time thinking that Jesus would not confront politicians and call them out for their hypocrisy in not defending or helping take care of those who needed aid.

The Jesus I know called out the Sadducees and the Pharisees for their self-righteous ways.

The Jesus I know did not canvas for votes. He came to help all of us no matter race, gender, or physical ailment.

The Jesus I know preached and practiced the Golden Rule through his actions and not his emails.

My high school has five counselors for over 2400 students. There is one part-time social worker. There is one school psychologist assigned to multiple schools at one time. A school nurse is on campus only one day a week.

As a country we require people to have a license to drive a car, we regulate alcohol, and we determine who can operate businesses at certain places. We cannot even put an addition on a house that we outright own unless it passes several stages of permits.

But at 18-years of age, one becomes old enough to buy a pack of cigarettes and an AR-15. That’s three years before one can buy a beer legally.

Lawmakers set these guidelines. Interesting that one (possibly more) thinks I should carry a gun to protect students from shooters.

I am a teacher of 20 years in public schools. And I want to tell Rep. Larry Pittman that I will never carry a weapon on my person as a teacher in any school despite what he suggested in wake of the recent school shooting at Douglas High School in Parkland, FL.

As reported by the Associated Press on Feb. 16,

A North Carolina lawmaker says allowing teachers to bring guns to school would save lives in situations such as the deadly school shooting in Florida.

I don’t ever remember part of my training as a teacher whether in the classroom or in the field involving carrying a weapon to protect school children. Something in me clings to the idea that I am trying to arm my students with the ability to think for themselves and become productive citizens based on their choices in pursuing life, liberty, and happiness.

But Larry Pittman wants to me to carry a weapon, even if I am a “communist democrat.”

Because I am a public school teacher.

I have to fork over my own money to buy supplies.

We have not had new textbooks in over ten years.

We have a lower per-pupil expenditure in this state than we did years ago.

We have school buildings that are literally falling apart.

And lawmakers like Larry Pittman want to privatize public schools in North Carolina in such an explicit manner that we are seeing dramatic drops in teacher candidates to teach our students. Yet he wants to “arm” me when he won’t even fully fund the very place I would be called upon to protect.

Not one student who survived the massacre at Douglas High School has called for arming teachers. In fact in a post on Facebook a couple of the teachers who were very near the lines of fire talked about what teachers could always do in such horrific circumstances. They never mentioned being armed. They talked about being prepared. They talked about drills, locking doors, staying away from windows.

And those students from Douglas are pleading for gun control. Loudly. This teacher is taking their word for it, not Larry Pittman’s.

“Without the right to keep and bear arms, the people have no means of securing their freedom. The framers of the US Constitution understood this, and put the Second Amendment into the Constitution for that reason. They had just had to fight to throw of the tyranny of the British government. They knew that, no matter how wonderful a form of government they gave us, humans are corruptible, and the government might become tyrannical again. So they wanted the people to be free always to fight for their freedom, even against their own government if need be. Government officials today who deny this know better. They understand all too well that this is the meaning of the Second Amendment. That’s why people like Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Schumer want to get rid of our right to keep and bear arms. Never trust anyone who wants to disarm our citizens. They are potential tyrants who bear watching. We must be ever vigilant to preserve our freedom. As an NRA member, who fully supports the Second Amendment, the NRA, the GRNC, and other supporters of gun owner rights have no greater friend than I in Raleigh, BECAUSE THE PEOPLE MATTER.”

If Rep. Larry Pittman really wanted to “arm” teachers, then he would push for fully funding our schools with every resource possible.

And as a “man of God,” he could at least understand that gun control can be enacted without infringing on people’s rights to bear arms.